Charles T. P. Ulm

Airspeed AS.6 Envoy

The crew was attempting a new record over the Pacific Ocean on a flight from Vancouver to Melbourne with intermediate stops in San Francisco, Oakland and Honolulu. En route to Hawaii, the crew encountered poor weather conditions. Due to low visibility, he was unable to localize the islands and sent several radio messages advising he was lost and running out of fuel. The aircraft named 'Stella Australis' eventually crashed into the ocean around 1000LT. Despite an extensive and immediate search by aircraft and 23 naval ships, no trace of the Envoy nor the crew was ever found. Captain Ulm had chosen not to carry a life raft on board, preferring to save weight and predicting the aircraft would float for two days if it were forced to land on water. Crew: Charles T. P. Ulm, pilot, G. M. Littlejohn, copilot, J. S. Skilling, radio navigator.